


you can always count on me

by thecerridwen



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: F/M, Friendship, Hurt/Comfort, I love them so much, Romance, zutara supporting and caring about each other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-20
Updated: 2019-04-20
Packaged: 2020-01-20 17:48:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,330
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18530080
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thecerridwen/pseuds/thecerridwen
Summary: Katara and Zuko have a conversation about the future at the old masters camp.





	you can always count on me

**Author's Note:**

> So, my first zutara fic! I love them and their relationship, how supportive they are of each other, and I tried to show a little of it here. I wrote this while listening to almost all the songs from Marina and The Diamonds (only Marina now its seems? what a shame). If you like it you can follow me on tumblr (same user as here), I'm always rebloging zutara metas and atla related stuff. Well, hope you like it!

Katara finds Zuko right behind his uncle’s tent.

She had just packed her things on Appa’s saddle for their travel to the Fire Nation, but when she looked around for the firebender, he was nowhere to be seen. At this point Katara knew Zuko enough to know that when something was bothering him, he would always find some hidden corner to mope all by himself, so she went looking for him. She looked around the camp to all the White Lotus members and her friends, and felt her chest twist and become heavy all of a sudden. That could be the last time she saw any of them. She was going to help Zuko fight against one of the most dangerous firebenders on earth, and she might not get out of this alive.

But before she could fall into an endless void of all the things that could go wrong, she saw a figure of red cloth near General Iroh’s tent. She followed it and found Zuko hid behind his uncle’s tent, walking in circles. He looked restlessly and about to have a breakdown.

“Zuko?” she asked, not sure if ‘Are you okay?’ was a good complement.

He stopped walking and looked at her, looking surprised. “Katara? What you doing here?”

“I was looking for you. We have to go,” she said. Then, with a step closer, “Do you want to talk? Honestly you look like you’re going to faint.”

“Do I? I mean, no. It- it’s nothing. You don’t have to worry about it. Really, I         ‘m okay,” he said, scooting a little away from her. He looked really pale and nervous.

Katara stepped closer again, taking his hand, “Zuko, we friends. And friends care about it each other. If something’s bothering you, I can’t help unless you tell me what it is.”

He looked at their holding hands and lowered his head a little, his eyes on the ground, “Look, I know what I have to do, and I’m not backing away from it, but there’s just so much at game right now if I don’t win. My throne, the destiny of the Fire Nation, my mother…”

“What do you mean your mother?” she said, taken aback, “I thought she was dead, you told me that!”

“I thought she was dead too! I didn’t lie to you that day in Ba Sing Se. But when I faced my father in the Day of The Black Sun he told me she was alive. Just banished, like I was. I have no idea how he managed to hide that information all these years, but this is not important now. What’s important is that she’s alive, and I have to found her.”

Katara talked very softly, “Zuko, are you sure he wasn’t just lying to you? It wouldn’t be the first time. He knows how important you mother was for you, he could be just trying to hurt you.”

He shaked his head, squeezing her fingers lightly, “I know he wasn’t lying, not that time. I always suspect my mother disappearance, it was so strange, how she just vanished over the night. But father told me she had died, and I believed, because why would he lie to me?” he shook his head, a pained expression taking his features. “Maybe you right and I’m just being foolish again, but I have to try. I can’t just disregard the possibility that she’s alive somehow. Now that I know that she can be out there I have to try. Do you understand what I mean?”

“I do,” Katara said truthfully, because she really did. So she said, “I’m going with you.”

“What?”

“I’m going with you,” she repeated. And then added with confidence, “We’re going to win, because we’re a great team. We’re going to take down Azula, and you’re going to be crowned as the best Fire Lord in the history of Fire Lords, and we’re going to find you mother and bring her home.”

Zuko smiled, a true and rare smile, and responded, “You know, there’s no such a thing as being crowned ‘the best Fire Lord in the history of Fire Lords’.”

“I’m trying to cheer you up and that what I receive?” she said indignantly, and he laughed.

“I’m just teasing. Thank you, Katara. It really means a lot, you have no idea. You know, when we find my mother, I’m sure she’s going to love you.”

“You really think so?”

“Of course! You’re so smart, and compassionate and you care so much about the people you love…” his voice went shy, his face brightening, “I’m sure she’ll adore you.”

“Thanks, Zuko,” Katara said, her face red too. She looked back at the camp, where Sokka and Suki were talking to Master Piandao. “We should get going,” she started to walked back to the camp, but Zuko pushed her back by their still united hands.

“Hey, are you okay? And don’t even think about lying.”

Katara sighed, “I’m just worried. With Aang, Sokka, Suki, Toph. We don’t even know where Aang is. I don’t want that scene on Amber Island to be the last time we saw each other. I don’t want this moment on the White Lotus camp to be the last one I’ll see any of the others,” she said, feeling her heart a little lighter after saying what was bothering her since Amber Island.

“I know how you feel. I’m feeling the same, but I have to believe things are going to be okay. Aang’s a smart kid, he’ll do the right thing. Suki and Toph are very capable too, they can take care of themselves. Now Sokka…Well, I hope Toph and Suki can save the world _and_ take care of him at the same time.”

Katara gave him a light punch on the shoulder, “Don’t talk about Sokka like that! He’s an amazing warrior, and really smart too!”

“Okay, okay! I’m sorry, he really is. See, they’re going to be just fine. We can trust them completely.”

“I know,” she said, and stepped forward to hug him, throwing her arms around his shoulders, “Thank you, Zuko.”

He wrapped his arms around her waist, holding tight, “Anytime.”

They hugged for some time before Katara put her head back to look at him, “You really deserve this, you know that right? Be the Fire Lord. What you Uncle said was true, you’re the right person to restore the Fire Nation. You’re going to do great, I’m sure you will.”

“If you believe in me that much, I guess that’s really true then,” he said, looking her in the eyes. Katara looked back, inclining her head forward at the same he did the same thing. But then came the loud sound of crashing objects, and they stepped away from each other faster than lightning.

The Dragon of The West appeared from a gap at the end of the tent, looking amused, “Nephew, Master Katara! I didn’t know you two were here! My apologies if I scared you, but an old man like me tends to break things from time to time. Now the first thing I’ll need to do after we win the war is buy a new tea set!”

“I’m sorry about your tea set, General. But I have to, uh, go. Bye!” Katara said, her face bright red, and practically run toward Toph, who seemed to be in a heated discussion with King Bumi.

Zuko looked at his Uncle with an irritated expression, “You were eavesdropping the whole time, weren’t you?”

“Of course not! I would never interrupt a conversation between you and a lady friend, especially someone as lovely as Master Katara.”

“She’s not a lady friend! I know what you mean by that, and she’s not it!”

“I’m not saying anything.”

“Good. Because there’s nothing to say anyway.”

“If you say so, Nephew.”

“Come on, Katara’s waiting for me.”

“Yes, you should never let a lady friend waiting.”

“Stop!”

But Iroh only laugh.


End file.
